This paper is an attempt to amplify Freud's finding that two people sharing what seem to be the same childhood traumata may develop different neuroses. Lindner analyzed a brother and a sister and found that the brother had developed

an obsessional neurosis while the sister developed hysteria although both had shared in common traumatic experiences.

The difference is explained by the fact that one patient was a seven-year-old male and the other a five-year-old female when they both observed primal scenes and engaged in fellatio and cunnilingus. Although the experiences were mutual, the boy perceived these acts as sadistic whereas the girl felt them as acts of love. The brother regressed and became fixated at an anal-sadistic level, while the sister retained her phallic orientation.